Kora Enables Gasless Transactions on Solana
A new developer solution named Kora now enables gasless transactions on Solana. The tool allows users to interact with dApps using USDC or other SPL tokens without needing to hold SOL for gas fees, aiming to reduce friction for mainstream user adoption, particularly in DePIN and consumer applications.
- Kora operates as a "paymaster" or fee relayer, a system where a third party can sponsor transaction fees on behalf of users. This model is similar in concept to Ethereum's EIP-4337, which introduced account abstraction to enable sponsored transactions. - The solution is officially maintained by the Solana Foundation and was developed to create a standardized approach to fee sponsorship and remote signing on the network. It provides developers with a JSON-RPC API and a TypeScript SDK for easier integration. - Node operators running Kora can define specific policies, such as whitelisting certain SPL tokens or Solana programs that users can interact with. It also supports secure key management through services like Turnkey and Privy, meaning private keys don't need to be stored locally. - Kora is designed to support the growing "Internet Capital Markets" narrative, particularly for applications requiring micropayments like x402, by removing the need for end-users to acquire SOL for machine-to-machine transactions. - While Kora enables gasless transactions for the user, the underlying network fees are still paid in SOL by the Kora node operator. The base fee for a standard Solana transaction is 0.000005 SOL per signature. - Other wallets and dApps on Solana have also implemented forms of gasless transactions. For instance, Phantom wallet allows swaps without SOL by deducting a premium processing fee from the token being swapped, and TokenPocket offers a limited number of free daily transfers.
